


Hindsight

by LostCauses (Anteros)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Gen, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:27:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anteros/pseuds/LostCauses
Summary: While sailing to Odiha, Levi and Pieck have a conversation aboutthatday in Shiganshina.
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Comments: 19
Kudos: 246





	Hindsight

**Author's Note:**

> I got fed up of waiting for Isayama to write this scene, so I've written it myself. This takes place sometime around chapter 130 when the Alliance are on the ship bound for Odiha.

Levi leans against the rail and gazes out over the side of the ship. It’s breathtaking. Blue as far as the eye can see, the horizon little more than a faint smudge of grey in the distance. The sheer scale of the ocean astonishes him and he can’t help wondering what _he_ would have made of it all. The salt air stings the wounds on his face where the dressings don’t quite cover them, and he’s still weak and unsteady on his feet, but at least he feels like he can breathe up here.

A white gull hangs in the air, keeping pace with the ship with no apparent effort. Another flies keening overhead, wheeling around the other, before skimming away over the waves. 

The plume of dark smoke from the ship’s funnels billows in their wake and Levi can feel the dull throb of the engines reverberating through the deck beneath his feet. Hanji’s probably down there right now pestering the crew to explain every detail of the infernal machines.

“Captain?” 

Pieck steps into his field of vision from the left hand side. He’s noticed that she only ever approaches him from the left, from where he can see her. She’s the only one apart from Hanji that seems to be aware of his limited vision. 

“I’m not your captain,” he growls. 

“Sorry,” she smiles, undeterred. “I’ve spent my whole life in the military. Old habits. I brought you this.” She holds out a mug of steaming tea.

Levi takes it grudgingly, unable to refuse, but hoping she won’t take it as an invitation to stay. She does. He wants to tell her to fuck off, her presence makes him deeply uncomfortable; she’s too smart by half. But there’s something about her, something about her boldness, and her obvious devotion to her comrades, that reminds him of someone else. She’s respectful, but she’s not intimidated by him, that’s for sure. 

They stand by the rail drinking their tea in silence and watching the waves dance and foam along the side of the ship. 

“I often think about Shiganshina,” she says eventually.

Levi stiffens. The familiar name sounds strange and foreign in her Marley accent. 

“About that day,” she continues, “when I rescued Zeke from you.” 

Levi doesn’t answer. He can still picture is so clearly. The catastrophic wave of horror that crashed over him as the Cart Titan snatched Zeke away from under his blades. The shattering realization that he had failed. That he had failed _him_. Levi doesn’t _think about_ Shiganshina. Shiganshina is always with him. In some ways he never left. Or maybe it’s that he left a part of himself there. The only part that was worth anything. 

Pieck is still talking.

“I can’t help thinking about what might have happened. If I hadn’t reached him in time. If I’d just let you kill him. If all this could have been prevented. I could never have imagined that our great War Chief would betray us. That it would come to this.” She sighs. “Hindsight really is a wonderful thing.”

“Those Yeagers played us all for fools.” Levi admits. _What a joke._

“I watched you take down Zeke’s Titans you know. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible unless I’d seen it with my own eyes. Everything they told us about the Ackermans was true after all. We never really believed a word of it. We all thought it was just stories. Like you’d tell children to get them to behave.” 

Levi is mildly curious about what they were told, but he doesn’t ask. 

“I’d never seen anyone move with such speed. It shouldn't have been possible. You’re faster even than Poco and he’s the fastest Jaw we ever….” she tails off, falling silent for a moment. 

“There’s one thing I’ve always wondered though. You hesitated. You could have killed Zeke, but you hesitated.” 

It’s not a question but she looks at him shrewdly, expecting an answer.

“I thought…” Levi starts, unsure why he’s answering her. “I thought there was someone I could save.”

“And did you?” 

“Yes.” Levi replies without hesitation. 

“I’m glad. Life is precious. We seem to have forgotten that.” 

“I know. That’s why I let him die.” 

Pieck stares at him under hooded eyes.

“Oh,” she says softly. “Of course. Commander Erwin. I’ve heard a lot about him.”

Levi swallows hard and looks away.

Armin and Annie are sitting together on the far side of the deck, an awkward distance between them. 

“She killed my squad.” Levi says, bitter and desperate to change the subject. “Crushed them like insects. You remind me of one of them. She was about your age.” 

Pieck watches them placidly for a while. 

“We thought you were devils,” she says, still gazing at Annie and Armin. “That’s what we were taught. It was drummed into us. ‘The devils of Paradis Island.’ We didn’t know what else to think.” 

“And now?”

“Now?” Pieck’s gaze is piercing as she turns to face him. “Now I think we’re all devils.” 

She’s not wrong. 

“You should go below,” she says. “We’ll reach Odiha by noon tomorrow. Commander Zoe told me to tell you that you need to rest. And that if you don’t go back to your cabin they’ll drag you there themselves. I can take that back to the galley.” She holds out her hand for the empty cup. Levi peers down at it in surprise, he wasn’t aware that he’d finished it. 

She takes the cup but before she turns away, she pauses. 

“Captain," there's steel in her tone. "Next time, don’t hesitate.” 

“I won’t.” Levi replies. 

_I promised him._


End file.
